1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an unloading mechanism for a storage device fixture.
2. Description of the Related Art
During the production and testing of storage devices (e.g., hard disk drives, flash drives, etc.), the devices must often be transferred among and between pieces of equipment (such as the equipment pictured in FIG. 1) representing a number of different manufacturing and testing stages. Typically, the storage devices are transferred between the pieces of equipment manually, although in some facilities such transfer has been automated.
Since storage devices moving throughout a manufacturing facility are often similarly configured, the storage devices may need to be removed from a piece of equipment at the same or nearly the same time. Thus, for example, if a plurality of hard disk drives must undergo a comprehensive testing process prior to shipment, the plurality of drives loaded into a testing module at approximately the same time will typically complete the testing process at approximately the same time. Indeed, in many pieces of testing/manufacturing equipment, such as that shown in FIG. 1, a very large number of drives may be simultaneously tested.
Conventional storage device bays into which storage devices are inserted, however, provide individual ejection mechanisms for each device. Thus, in order to eject the plurality of disk drives, for example, a plurality of ejection mechanisms must be actuated by a technician. This duplicative effort on the part of the technician or operator (or robot, if the unloading process is automated) may slow down the manufacturing process and may lead to reduced throughput.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a means of more efficiently ejecting storage devices from storage device bays.